Outreach Event Streamlines Access to Federal Foreclosure Prevention Program
On August 29th, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Chicago, in partnership with the Oak Park Regional Housing Center (OPRHC), the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus, and Housing Action Illinois, hosted an innovative borrower outreach day to help homeowners facing foreclosure in west Cook County. The event, called "Keep Your Home," was held in Cicero, but marketing targeted eight west suburban communities. Over 100 volunteers, nearly half of them bilingual, helped families determine whether or not the President's Home Affordable Modification Program was a good fit for the homeowner. If the homeowner did qualify, volunteers helped them fill out the applications and collect the paperwork necessary to apply for the program. One of the most common impediments to speedy processing of loan modification applications is missing or incomplete paperwork. “Keep Your Home” addressed that problem by providing a team of trained volunteers who could make sure applications were complete before sending them in to servicers.
Nearly 300 borrowers completed the intake process and about 157 were able to apply for modifications that day. 63 percent of the attendees were Latino, which was not surprising, given the racial/ethnic composition of Cicero and the proximity to Chicago's West Side. Nearly two-thirds of the borrowers were from the suburbs. The median monthly income for a family at the event was $2,700 and they had a median housing payment of $1,683. This means that the median homeowner was spending 59% of their monthly income on their housing payment. NHS is currently following up with each of the servicers and clients to determine the outcomes of the borrowers who submitted applications.
While this was NHS of Chicago's third large scale event to help troubled borrowers with modifications, a few notable changes were made to the template. First, two lender/servicers sent staff to the event to take loan modification applications for their clients directly in order to streamline the exchange of information. Chase accepted approximately 30 applications that day and Harris took 6-8. Second, while at past events packets were faxed directly to the servicer at the event, to contain costs it was determined that packets would instead be brought back to the NHS offices and sent electronically or by fax, depending on the method each servicer preferred. This proved to be more time intensive than originally planned, but cut down on errors and the need to resend faxes that didn't go through or were interrupted. Finally, marketing, which had been a costly component of the first two events, was done in partnership with servicers and the target municipalities. Four servicers mailed flyers to their clients in the target communities inviting them to the event and the municipalities announced the event on their web sites, though community newsletters, and, in one case, by placing the flyer in water bills. Together, these in-kind contributions, in addition to others, provided savings of nearly $31,000.